Skiing with the Stewarts!

Well, another adventure under our belts! We finally made it up north for a weekend of friends, family, fun, and of course skiing at the Stewart's cabin right smack at the bottom of Nubs Nob. I tried my hardest to be adventurous, at the last minute deciding to quickly pack up and leave a day early... but it almost bit me in the butt when my dear sweet Matthew cried for most of the 5 hour drive and then once we got there, decided to stay awake until 2:00am. Thankfully the rest of the weekend went much more smoothly and by Monday morning, we were all so sad to leave.

After an unbelievably long night, we got the boys over to Nubs in the morning to ski for the very first time. We borrowed my friend's son's skis and the boys took turns the first day. They were naturals!!! Matthew quickly learned how to snow plow and stop himself. We're still not sure if Caleb couldn't figure it out or simply didn't want to... he just loved to point his skis down the hill and GO! The faster he went, the bigger his smile got! Those kids are seriously lacking fear, common sense, and maybe a bit of depth perception too! They each took two half hour turns on the skis, with a "hot chocolate" break in between. God help me when they grow up and realize that "hot chocolate" is more than just warm milk! After a poorly executed attempt at a nap, Jon and I took them into Petosky for another special treat. I can't even tell you how many times we have read the story "Curious George and the Chocolate Factory"... but I can tell you that aside from the story, the boys didn't really know what chocolates were. Until now! We took them into town to the Kilwins shop and let them each pick our their very own chocolate, just like Curious George. It was so incredibly sweet (no pun intented!) to watch as one of their favorite stories came to life :)

Sunday morning we got each of the boys a private lesson. They have never seperated from us like that- to go with a stranger- so we didn't know what to expect. Nevermind that Matthew was now close to 8 hours short on sleep in the past 24 hours! He was NOT having a pretty morning, but when the time came, we handed them off to their ski instructors and they toddled off without looking back! Jon and I were nervous wrecks... not about the separation, not in the slightest... but we were so worried about whether or not they were representing themelves well. They were, after all, a bit young to be in ski school! We found out a half an hour later when Matthew decided he was done. But that damn Caleb finished an entire hour and a half private lesson! Never got cold, never got tired, just skied up to us at the end wanting to know if he could do it again!

Sunday afternoon, after another miserabley failed attempt at nap, we trekked back to the mountain... the boys were ready to conquer the chair lift!!! Daddy and Grandma had skis on so up they went. I couldn't believe it... my two year olds were riding the chair lift! They came down the mountain with grins so big they looked like the Cheshire Cat! Towards the bottom, Jon and my mom would let them go... Matthew would ski a little then snow plow a little until he came to a relatively decent stop and Caleb just plowed through as fast as his little legs could fly! Oh that kid :) About 10 trips later, the had convinced daddy and grandma to take them through the terrain park. For the next hour, I watched my tiny two year old tots grinding rails with the best of 'em as people stopped to stare and ponder how old they could possibly be. We finally had to drag them home two and a half hours later, with those giant grins still spread across their faces :)

The boys loved being at the cabin just as much as they loved being out in the snow. They did puzzles, skateboarded, played with their favorite big kids, and continuously stole pieces of fruit from the kitchen table that was quite conveniently located just at eye level. I'm pretty certain they each consumed upwards of 10 pieces of fruit a day. They didn't notice the licorice or the M&M's up there, but they just couldn't resist the peaches and plums! Boy do I love those little buggers!

A great big THANK YOU to all of the Stewarts- Kathy, Henry, Alex, Maggie, and their friend Cam- and our entire family for helping make the boys first ski trip one of our most wonderful and memorable family vacations yet :)